


i slept on your side of the bed because your pillow smells of you

by russiasnataliaa



Series: forever and always [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, Late Night Conversations, Married Couple, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24268510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russiasnataliaa/pseuds/russiasnataliaa
Summary: natasha and liho waiting for james to come home + what the title says.title inspired by a quote from 'fifty shades freed'.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov
Series: forever and always [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654330
Comments: 1
Kudos: 53





	i slept on your side of the bed because your pillow smells of you

“Miss me?” _More than you’d ever know._

“A lot, yes.”

“Thought Miss Liho was keeping you company?” he teases. _Really quiet company, but company nonetheless._

“I know,” Natasha sighs, turning to look at said kitten who’s playing with one of the toys she’d bought her a while back. “But all of our conversations are one sided.” She’s been with Liho _all_ _day_ , taking her everywhere possible. The kitchen, the living room, the laundry room — the only place she didn’t take her was the bathroom.

“I think you talk to her enough for the both of you,” James chuckles, and the sound of his laugh sends warmth over her chest. He’s on his way back to D.C. from a week long mission in Spain. And technically, he’s almost an hour away, but even then, he still has to debrief, get checked out by SHIELD medical and travel all the way up to New York, so he’s not coming home for at least another five to six hours. _So close, yet so far._

“Shut up,” she smiles, his laugh still ringing in her ear. “I think she misses you. She’s been curled up on your side of the bed constantly.”

He hums and she can imagine how his chest would vibrate if she were laying on him. “What can I say?” _Here comes a banal line._ “I guess I just have that effect on _all_ females.” _And there it goes._

“And you have the nerve to call me corny?” she scoffs and he laughs again in return. They stay on the phone for another twenty minutes, talking about how his op went and how her and the baby are doing, until James tells her he has to go — his quinjet has landed. _One step closer to being in his arms_ . They exchange _I love you_ ’s and _see you soon_ ’s before hanging up, leaving Natasha alone again. It’s almost ten now, and even though she knows he won’t be home any time soon, she can’t help the need to stay up and wait for him for a little while longer.

So she walks over to the kitchen and makes her second cup of tea for the night, taking up Liho and the little feather toy, and heads back up to their bedroom when she’s finished. She changes into one of James' too-big shirts and a pair of pajama shorts and climbs in bed, picking up the remote on James’ nightstand and turns on the TV.

“What do you wanna watch, hmm?” she asks quietly, caressing the top of Liho’s head as she flips through channels. The kitten looks up at her and stretches a paw out in her direction, bringing a gentle smile from Natasha.

“You’re right, regular TV _is_ overrated. Let’s check Netflix,” she sighs. A few minutes later she settles on an old chick flick, one she’s seen more times than she can count, and sits back with her tea in hand.

Sometime toward the middle of the movie, Liho makes her way off of Natasha’s lap and meows a few times in the direction of James’ empty spot. She doesn’t notice at first, too engrossed in the movie, but when she does, Natasha smiles.

“You miss him, too, huh?” She reaches over and picks the small ball of fur up with both hands, raising her up to eye level as she stretches her tiny paw out again. “Daddy’ll be home soon, don’t worry,” she says, bringing her close to nuzzle their noses together softly.

Another cheesy movie and an extra cup of tea later, Natasha gets two messages from James.

**_Just finished up with medical, going to debrief now._ **

**_And don’t stay up too late waiting for me, you need the sleep._ **

Usually, staying up was never a problem for Natasha. Three months into her pregnancy, though? That’s a different story.

**Okay. Tell Fury to hurry up.**

**And I’m a big girl. I think I can handle staying up past 12, James.**

The last part was a complete lie. Her eyes are moments away from shutting and Liho’s already curled up next to her winding down for the night. Deciding to take his advice, she moves to pick up her empty mug and heads downstairs to place it in the dishwasher. She turns off all the lights when she’s done and goes back upstairs to wash up. After brushing her teeth and spending some time looking at her small bump — she’s still trying to grasp the fact that a baby, _their baby_ , is growing inside her — she ties her hair into a ponytail, shuts off the light and heads back to bed.

Their room is pretty cool, but the duvet is big enough and heavy enough that it keeps her warm at night. She curls up on her side and watches as Liho crawls over to be closer to her, closing her eyes almost instantly. Just as she’s about to turn off the lamp, her phone vibrates on the nightstand — James. If she’s being honest, she feels like she’s in highschool (at least, that's how the books and movies make it seem, she's never experienced regular school before), getting all excited over three simple messages from him. And she really should be used to it by now — they’ve been married for six years, lovers for much longer. Yet, she feels like she’s in one of those highly cliched movies where the girl waits by her phone for a text or call from the boy she can’t get her mind off of. And maybe it’s because she hasn’t seen him in over a week, but she’s smiling hard as she opens her phone. _Schoolgirl indeed._

**_That’s a funny thing coming from someone who falls asleep 20 minutes into an episode of American Horror Story._ **

**_But in case you do fall asleep (and I know you will), goodnight._ **

**_I’ll be home before you know it, I love you._ **

She chuckles softly, adoring how he still showers her with affection even though he’s not there to give it to her in person.

**I didn’t fall asleep, I was resting my eyes because the TV was bright.**

**And I love you more. Goodnight, James.**

And with that, she shuts her phone off with a smile, almost bursting at the seams at how she’ll be able to see James in just a few hours. _Patience, Natalia._ She turns off the lamps on their nightstands and settles down, thinking about his voice and his touch and the comfortable, welcome weight of his arm around her waist and _come_ on _Fury, hurry up and send him home already._

It only takes about five minutes of Natasha twisting and turning and _sighing_ for her to realize that she’s having trouble sleeping. One particular huff and kick of her foot has Liho awake again, eliciting a _meeew_ from her and Natasha winces.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she whispers, scooping the kitten up and placing a kiss on her head where her foot striked. She lays quietly for a while, hoping that she’ll tire herself out eventually with her thoughts, but even that doesn’t do anything. Eventually, she moves herself to the opposite side of the bed, smiling to herself at how much better she feels already surrounded by his smell — ‘his’ being James, of course. It’s the perfect mix of his conditioner, an undertone of gunpowder and something else that’s just completely _James_. Snuggling deeper under the covers, Natasha takes a deep breath and sighs contentedly, already feeling significantly better than she did a few moments ago.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It’s minutes to three when James finally gets home and he can’t thank God enough. He’s been on longer missions, but for some reason this past week has felt like an eternity.

He toes off his boots and socks by the door and heads up to the bedroom, and the sight before him brings a grin to his face. Natasha’s snoring away softly with one arm bent under her head for support and the other hand placed gently on his pillow by her face. Liho is right next to her, curled up next to her stomach. The duvet and the rest of the blankets are covering Natasha from the waist down but, as usual, there’s one leg sticking out so she doesn’t get hot. Her smooth, ivory skin shines from the silver light of the moon streaming through their curtains, chest rising and falling with each breath she takes. Her hair is slipping out of the ponytail, some of the shorter strands falling over her forehead, and she’s most _definitely_ drooling on his pillow but she looks so peaceful.

And as much as he hates coming home late from work, James thinks that coming home to this scene makes it all worth it.

“What happened to ‘being a big girl’ and ‘staying up past twelve’?” he whispers to himself, shaking his head in amusement.

Over the next few minutes, he undresses and puts away his uniform in the closet next to the catsuit Natasha won’t be wearing any time soon, pulling on a pair of pajama shorts and climbing into bed behind her.

She turns around to face him when she feels the bed dip, failing to hide a smile of pure excitement. “You’re back,” she states sleepily.

“ _You_ fell asleep,” he returns, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her in and _it feels so good to have him back._ “And when you said that Liho had been curled up on my side, you really meant you.” She chuckles, both at what he said and because her heart skips a beat now that she can feel his chest vibrate as he speaks.

“Guess you just have that effect on all the girls.” He’s grinning now, recalling their previous conversation on the phone. Green eyes meet blue ones as they get lost in the moment and in each other, quietly taking pleasure in the fact that he’s home and safe — other people aren’t so lucky. She leans up to kiss him and he meets her halfway, closing the space between them and sighing into the kiss as he caresses her cheek and she places her hand on his chest. Moments like these are what keep him going. Knowing that he has her to come home to gives him the motivation to run, fight and shoot ten times faster and harder. Because if he doesn’t, in their line of work, there’s a bigger chance of him not coming home. Eventually, they pull away just far enough to catch their breaths, not wanting to move any further away from each other than necessary.

“Missed you so much,” is what she whispers as her eyes start to close again.

“Missed you more, though.”

“Really?” she asks and he hums. Her eyes flit over his stomach and chest and lightly traces her finger across a few of the new bruises there, frowning slightly at their purplish color. 

“Hey,” He takes her hand in his own and kisses it softly. “I’m okay, don’t stress it. I’ll be good as new in three days, if so much. ‘Sides,” he smirks. “I gave it to ‘em much worse.”

“Good. ‘Cause I would've given it to _you_ much worse if you hadn’t,” she warns lightly, poking a finger to his chest and he chuckles.

“That’s a lot coming from someone who — ”

“Oh, give me a break, James,” she laughs. _Always picking on me and my stupid fatigue._

He hums. “But you should sleep, you’re gonna need the rest.”

“Oh?” Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. “And why is that?”

“I was planning on showing you — ” He leans in to kiss her slowly. “ — just how much — ” Another kiss, this time his tongue swipes across her bottom lip and she smiles when he deepens it. “ — I missed you.”

“Well then,” she sighs. “I guess I should rest up. Big day tomorrow.”

He chuckles. “Big day indeed.”

They fall asleep like that, wrapped up in each other and enjoying the touch of the other, hardly able to wait for the things that tomorrow has lying in store.

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> as usual, tell me what you think and please leave comments, they mean so much <3.


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